Jacqueline Collins
Audio By Carbonatix
Will you step up to support Westword this year?
We’re aiming to raise $50,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to this community. If Westword matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
Recreational marijuana is now legal in eleven states, as well as Washington, D.C.; in November, four more will be voting to legalize it: New Jersey, Montana, South Dakota and Arizona, which borders (barely) Colorado.
This was the first state to legalize recreational cannabis, when then-Governor John Hickenlooper approved the vote on Amendment 64 in December 2012. What will this expansion mean to Colorado’s marijuana industry?
Readers have some ideas, which they shared in comments on the Facebook post of our story. Says Karen:
There’s more to Colorado tourism than just weed. We’ll be fine.
Suggests Helen:
Maybe some people will go home to their own states and we can breathe again.
Replies Linda:
Oh, I hope so. Too much people here in Colorado! Send them back to their own towns, specifically the Texans who you see here buying pot.
Adds Clint:
Those who moved here from those states can go home, but we are still a better tourist destination than all but Arizona (during winter only) and we still have skiing during winter. Win win win.
Responds Mchll:
Yes! Get everyone out of here. Denver has gone to pot over the last eight years. Literally and figuratively.
Concludes Cassandra:
I doubt it means much for Colorado, but it means a lot to people who live in those states and risk their freedom for a harmless plant. It means a lot for people who have been fighting the prohibition against a medically useful plant for years. It’s one step closer to dismantling the horrible War on Drugs, which is really just a war America is fighting against its own citizens.
Truman Bradley, head of the Marijuana Industry Group, believes that even if border dispensaries lose regular out-of-state customers, tourists will still come to experience Colorado’s outdoors — and buy weed during their visits. “What I will say is Colorado is a tourist destination — not just people flying in, but people driving in. And I don’t see that changing,” he predicts.
What do you think of Colorado’s marijuana industry? The spread to other other states? Post a comment or share your thoughts at editorial@westword.com.